Volunteers from the Owensville Fire Department and surrounding agencies extinguished fires at two area residences Sunday.

Owensville Fire Department members were dispatched at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 1 for a first alarm residential structure fire in the 3600 block of Highway19 South. Firemen arriving confirmed it was a working fire and located three young boys outside of the residence. Their grandfather was trapped on a back porch while heavy fire was found below in the basement.

Firemen were able to safely remove the man from the porch, according to Chief Jeff Arnold. Arnold noted mutual aid units arrived from area fire protection district and began a search on the main level of the house. It was determined that all the fire was held in the basement. Crews quickly extinguished the fire and remained on scene for a couple of hours for salvage and overhaul operations.

Arnold said contents of the residence on the lower level of the home were destroyed. The family was being assisted by the American Red Cross.

Agencies assisting Owensville included firemen from the neighboring fire protection districts included Gerald-Rosebud, Beaufort-Leslie, Cuba, and Bourbon.

Later Sunday, E-911 tones dispatched OFD personnel at 9:15 p.m. to the 500 block of Cherry Avenue in Owensville for a first alarm residential structure fire. The fire unit on the scene arrive and reported all occupants were safely out of the residence and a working fire was located in the attic. Crews accessed the attic and quickly extinguished fire located in the insulation and rafters.

The alarm was the 402nd calls for assistance the local volunteers have responded to in 2024, Arnold told the Owensville Board of Aldermen on Monday — new record for the OFD.

Arnold said 24 Owensville volunteers turned out for the evening fire and he was soon able to release responding area agencies from the mutual aid call. Responding to assist were firefighters from area fire protection districts including Bland, Belle, Beaufort-Leslie, Cuba, and Gerald-Rosebud.

“Please remember to check that all smoke detectors operate properly in your residence,” Arnold noted in an online social media post following the fires.